PHILIPPINES – JUNE 15, 2011 – After a successful Free Movie Weekend on June 11 and 12 at selected SM Cinemas nationwide, the Nestlé centennial short film anthology “Kasambuhay Habambuhay” is on its way to the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity where delegates from all over the world will have the chance to see the 10 short films by nine directors, each film in a different genre and featuring a Nestlé brand or two.
Multiple screens will be set up outside the registration area at the Palais des Festivals and show the films throughout the week and on June 23 outside the Debussy. The backgrounder video on the campaign will also be shown on June 24 before the Publicis Groupe – Nestlé seminar. Nestlé Philippines’ Leslie Go-Alcantara, Just Add Water’s Jem Lim and Publicis Manila’s Jayel Ladioray are flying to Cannes to ensure that everything goes as planned.
“We declined the initial idea of having a room to show all the films.The approach we took in Cannes is to give as many participants as possible a chance to catch a glimpse of the films so we selected the areas with high traffic,” explained Sandra Puno, Nestlé Philippines director of communications. “To our surprise, Cannes acceeded to our request even as we know this was not usually done.”
For creative director Jayel Ladioray, the project in itself is unusual, as this gave the short film directors, all respected TV commercial directors, a bit of friendly competition: “Throughout the project they kept on directly and indirectly checking on one another. To be honest, this worked to the project’s advantage. They had fewer brand mandatories and timing parameters to consider. And if they were the type who were pigeonholed in a certain style, it was the chance to break free and experiment.”
The directors are Jeorge Agcaoili, A/F Benaza, Carlo Directo, Henry Frejas, Raul Jarolan, Sid Maderazo, Chris Martinez, Stephen Ngo, and Jun Reyes.
“Narrative films — whether short or feature — are completely different from TVCs,” said Jun Reyes, who helmed Silup, starring Sid Lucero and Gloria Romero. “A film is entirely your vision. Telling a story is the main objective, as opposed to selling a product or service, which is what commercials are all about. In this case, it’s branded entertainment, a mix of the two types. The product had to be integral to the story but not in an obtrusive way.”
“If I were to compare it to running, a commercial would be a sprint, a film would be a marathon. It’s more tasking in almost all aspects,” added Jeorge Agcaoili, who worked on a comedy starring the Nestea characters Nicos and his family. “From the briefing to the final presentation, it took me aound four months [which] I had to squeeze into my regular working calendar. Six shooting days on location, out of town. Graveyard shifts for grading and online.”
“Going to Cannes is a great validation for all the effort my entire team and I have invested on this project. It was very challenging to create a contagious campaign from the client’s brief. We went through the same rigors of creating a regular campaign but magnified a hundred times for the 100 years. It’s great how a campaign that touched so many lives here can also touch the lives of many, in Cannes no less,” concluded Ladioray.
For us who can’t make it to Cannes, catch the short films bundled with Star Cinema’s KC Concepcion and Sam Milby starrer, Forever and a Day, which opens June 15.
Coming from last weekend’s screening, the crowd favorites show that storylines need not be conventional to be appreciated, actors need not be famous to make their mark, and that brands need not be intrusive to make branded entertainment that sells. More than a collection of beautiful shots and shorts with excellent production values, “Kasambuhay Habambuhay” is a celebration on film, proof that there is always a reason to cheer for the little stories that have the power to move and surprise audiences.
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